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The Best Way to Unclog Drains

Clogged drains are really annoying, especially when it becomes a chronic problem. Our current apartment has been great so far, no complaints. Recently however, the drain for our bathtub was getting slower and slower; so much so that by the end of a shower we’d be wading in an ankle high puddle. After some searching and trying a handful of products, we finally found something that worked!

Our first thought was that it must be hair clogging the drain so we started with a hair remover. A quick search on amazon resulted in us purchasing a few these bright orange plastic pieces. When they arrived, we unscrewed the cap of the bathtub stopper and gave these hair drain clog removers a try but we weren’t able to fish out anything. Even at 19.6 inches maybe they weren’t long enough.

Our second attempt was good old Drano. I remember using this in previous apartments to mixed results. After pouring the solution down the drain, letting it sit 20-30 minutes, and then flushing with hot water, the drain would usually clear up a bit. In our case the draining sped up but it still felt like there was some gunk remaining.

In hopes of keeping the bathtub drain unclogged, we decided to pair the Drano effort with a drain protector to catch extra hair. We ended up getting this OXO drain protector from Amazon. Out of all of the options online, this one seemed tall enough to cover the drain cap and had a weighty top to make sure it stayed in place.

OXO Good Grips Silicone Drain Protector

The drain protector was definitely doing its job but the bathtub drain slowly got more and more backed up. After about a week, we were standing in ankle high water again.

Determined to solve this issue, we started to search for Drano alternatives. There’s got to be better alternatives to grocery store staples right? That’s when we found the Green Gobbler. Touted as safer than the usual drain openers and with a ton more Amazon reviews than Drano, we decided to give it a try.

Green Gobbler
Back of the Green Gobbler bottle

It worked wonders! Following the instructions, we poured one half of the pre-measured bottle into the drain and let it sit for 40 minutes. We then flushed the drain with hot water for a few minutes and instantly we could tell the drain was completely cleared. The drainage speed was so much faster than using a full bottle of Drano!

The shower that night after using the Green Gobbler was great. Not only that but it didn’t give off any odor nor did it stain. I still recall having to step out of the bathroom after using the other stuff because the fumes were so strong. It’s been almost a week and the drain is still working really well. The Green Gobbler was a great find and we highly recommend it to unclog your drain!

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